Should Churches With Small Congregations Be Banned?

"Where two or three are gathered together in my name . . . "

It is very confusing and somewhat alarming to hear that some would desire to "disband" churches in these United States with what they term "small" congregations.  It is a fact that most Christians in the United States attend small churches. The problem lies in the fact that it is the "mega churches" who get all of the attention.

Here are the qualifications of different sized church congregations according to USAChurches.org:

• Mega Church: Average weekend attendance is more than 2,000 people.

• Large Church: Average weekend attendance is between 301 and 2,000 people.

• Medium Church: Average weekend attendance is between 51 and 300 people.

• Small Church: Average weekend attendance is less than 50 people.

Even though this would not be considered any type of official census, here is the breakdown of the churches actually listed at USAChurches.org:

• Mega: 346

• Large: 400

• Medium: 1,293

• Small: 595

People are more likely to come to faith in a small church for many different reasons:

A True Church Family

 

In small churches people normally know one another and care enough to notice if someone is missing from a church service.

Everyone Gets Involved

 

A greater part of the congregation has assigned duties like, greeting, ushering, cleanup, Bible study, etc.

Small Churches Keep Members

 

Since most of the members are involved in the work of the church, they attend on a regular basis, while large churches may lose a large percentage of members every year.

The following is quoted from a 2001 U. S. Congregational Life Survey which involved the participation of practically every denomination including, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, United Methodist Church, Southern Baptist Convention, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), United Church of Christ, Roman Catholic Church, Seventh-day Adventist Church, Church of the Nazarene, Episcopal Church:,

"Worshipers in smaller congregations also do well in sharing their faith with others - by inviting people to worship, getting involved in outreach to their communities, and looking for ways to talk to others about their faith. In smaller congregations people realize they can't sit back and wait for someone else to do it."

Of the approximately 400,000 Protestant congregations scattered across the United States, half of these churches average 75 in attendance each week.

For whatever reasons, we seem to live under the assumption that "bigger" is always better and look down on the small churches because of their size. History teaches us that for centuries, churches that rarely had any more than 30 members made the work of the church in spreading the Christian faith in the early churches possible.

Volume does equal quantity, but it certainly does not guarantee quality and small churches are coming to realize that their size is actually an asset to their mission. Tarrytown Baptist Church in Austin, Texas recently sent one-fourth of its regular congregation to Honduras to minister to destitute children.

Large churches seem to always be overly concerned about "cultural norms" and are constantly trying to grow their numbers by seeking a "target audience". What these churches see as a strength just might possibly be their weakness.

A perfect example of this fact involves a letter I wrote to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association a few years ago. I was really troubled about the abortion issue and couldn't understand why the most recognized and admired evangelist in the world never spoke against killing babies. I knew that Dr. Graham probably would not even see my letter, much less personally respond to it. In a few weeks I received this response:

"Dr. Graham doesn't speak on such controversial issues for fear of offending a member of his congregation."

Small churches are not too concerned about keeping in step with "cultural norms" and can risk ministries that larger churches find undesirable or offensive to some of its members.

Jesus has told us what he considers a church in the book of Matthew, Chapter 18, and verse 20:

"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

Our church could be under an oak tree, in our home or in a brand new stone building, but as long as Jesus is there it really doesn't matter. No church should be "disbanded" for any reason as long as it is serving God.

We must understand that small churches are not illegitimate or incomplete versions of "real" churches. The members of small churches realize when mission opportunity knocks and understand that they are just the right size to be all that God has called them to be.

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